Women Remembered

Special Event to Honor First Female Military Pilots
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), the first women in history to fly America’s military aircraft, will be honored this Memorial Day weekend on the same field where most of the WASP trained and received their silver pilots’ wings more than 60 years ago.
The National WASP WWII Museum Inc. is hosting its first annual WASP Memorial Fly-in May 28 at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, the Nolan County seat. The first class of WASP graduated from Avenger Field on this same day, May 28, in 1943.
Along with the fly-in, organizers will open the temporary headquarters of the National WASP WWII Museum at Avenger Field, now a part of Texas State Technical College’s Sweetwater campus.
WASP from as far away as Pennsylvania and Delaware are expected to attend the special event, which will include a parade open to veterans of all wars, male and female. Nolan County Judge Tim Fambrough, a Korean War veteran, and vice president of the National WASP WWII Museum Inc., will be in attendance.
Fambrough is part of a team that is developing plans for a permanent museum that will honor the 1,074 WASP who earned their pilots’ wings at Avenger Field. This was the only airfield in America used exclusively to train WASP, who flew more than 60 million miles in every type of military aircraft in the Army Air Forces arsenal during WWII. Following their training, these women pilots ferried military aircraft around the country, tested airplanes, and pulled targets in the air for the training of war-bound men.
Thirty-eight of the women died either during training or on domestic missions. Nevertheless, the women pilots did not receive full recognition as veterans, or the right to have the American flag on their coffin, until 1977. They are now eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery, however only as enlisted personnel, not as officers.
“They were heroes,” said Nancy Parrish, executive director of the Waco-based Wings Across America, a project launched six years ago to compile histories of the WASP. Most of the former women pilots are now in their 80s, and about 500 of the women are still living, said Parrish, also executive director of the National WASP WWII Museum Association.
Parrish’s mother, Deanie Parrish, was a WASP who flew B-26 bombers. Parrish’s father was also an Army Air Forces pilot in WWII.
The Parrish women believe the story of the WASP, to be depicted in the museum, will inspire generations to come. The facility will feature an “electronic quilt,” where visitors can, at the touch of a button, listen to personal accounts of the women aviators. Other attractions will include a re-creation of Avenger Field and a virtual reality simulator of aircraft experiences ranging from Stearman biplanes to the space shuttle. “The museum is going to be something really great for Sweetwater,” Fambrough said. “We are very excited.”
To date, museum organizers have acquired 55 acres of land and the 1929 hangar and have established a board of directors and national advisory council. National representatives include Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught; Deputy Assistant Undersecretary of the Air Force John Truesdell, and international aerobatic champion Patty Waggstaff.
“It’s getting more and more exciting as the days go by,” Parrish said. In the next few months, requests for proposals will be sent to architects. A groundbreaking date has not yet been set.
While designs are still in the works, one thing is for certain: A memorial will be constructed using cement blocks with special sets of handprints – those of the WASP who will attend this month’s inaugural fly-in. These veteran pilots will literally put their prints in cement, so that visitors for years to come will be able to view the special hands that long ago took the controls and streaked across the sky in service to their country.
Julie Anderson, Editor